You CAN have anything you want – but not everything

WHAT? It might sound like the American Way if I were to stand on a soapbox and tell you that you can have anything you want. It’s the Big Dream, isn’t it? Work hard, be smart, and you will make your way to the top of any mountain you choose. We have built a culture on personal responsibility, drive, and big ideas. Yes, you CAN have anything you want. But not everything

Here’s why you can’t have everything – you have to choose. You have to determine where you will invest your money, your time, and your energy. If you choose that Big Dream, that Thing, you might have to divert your resources away from other things in order to have what you need to invest in the Dream. In order to start taking the actions toward your Thing you will likely have to stop doing some of the things you are doing now.

What is necessary for your Big Dream? Which of these do you need to do your Thing?

New business connections

New personal contacts

Letting go of ballast of one sort or another

New knowledge

New beneficial personal behaviors

Letting go of certain personal habits

A reserve of cash

A new location

Other _________________

This is not to say that resources are scarce. What we’re saying here is that you can only hold so many things in your hands before something starts to fall out between your fingers. We’re saying that if you keep on adding you will wind up with a load that is so heavy that at some point you won’t be able to walk more than three steps without your knees buckling.

When you try to have everything at once you dilute your energy. You start to race frantically from one spinning plate to the next, trying to prevent each in turn from falling to the ground. Your attention is fractured, and because you are not focused you don’t see the opportunities that are right in front of you, hidden in plain view. It’s a blur. When you insist on having everything at once you over-commit, overspend, overeat, and under-sleep.

You can BE anything you want, but you can’t be EVERYTHING you want. OK, well you can’t literally be 6 feet tall if your genetics determine that your maximum altitude is 5 feet 6 inches. But you can stand on a box. You can wear platform shoes. Or if what’s important to you is feeling 6 feet tall you can hang out with other people who are shorter than you. Once you choose what you want to BE you can find all sorts of paths that will take you there.

This is why it’s important not to simply drift along through your life, floating whichever way the wind blows. When you are drifting you’re not choosing; rather, you’re allowing other people and circumstances to choose for you. If you are going to have anything you want or be anything you want it starts with defining what that Thing is.